Rochester native taking her spirit of volunteerism to the people of Uganda

Alicia Oumsang, who recently graduated from Pepperdine University, is headed to Uganda in early August. (Courtesy photo)

BOSTON - Alicia Oumsang's desire to be a force of good is deeply ingrained in the very fiber of her being, but its genesis is derived from the bravery of her parents who survived the bloody regime of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, who were responsible for the annihilation of some 25 percent of the country's population in the late 1970s.
Now the Spaulding High School and Pepperdine University graduate is ready to give back by devoting the next two years of her life to the people of Uganda as a Peace Corps volunteer.
"Yeah, I do draw from my parents," she said on Friday. "What they had to endure, what they sacrificed. I have to think I am a product of them, that it stems from my parents' bravery."
That bravery that inspired Oumsang led her to the moment when a few months ago she decided to commit to the two-plus year stint in Uganda, where she'll serve as a community health specialist.
"I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing, there are four different projects I might be assigned to," she said, "but I'd love to work with maternal health and HIV and AIDS prevention."
Oumsang, who majored in sports medicine, said there are orphanages in Uganda where many of the mothers and their children are both HIV-positive, and she would like to serve and educate these populations.
She is preparing for a career in primary care, so she said it's important to her to foster an understanding of as diverse a group as possible and to help that group.
"I'm doing this to deepen my sense of humanity," said Oumsang, who is among the first Peace Corps volunteers to return to overseas service following the evacuation of thousands at the onset of the pandemic. "I'm hoping to serve diverse groups within my choice of medicine."
Her dream job? To one day have some sort of general practice on a Native American reservation.
But first off, the task at hand.
After visiting Rochester to see old friends last week, she was spending time in Boston on Friday before heading back to San Diego, Calif., where her parents now live a couple of hours from her alma mater.
On July 29 she'll fly back east to Washington where the Peace Corps will hold a two-day orientation before sending her off to Uganda, a land-locked country that has had its own bouts of horrific violence including the bloody 1970s reign of strongman Idi Amin, one of the most brutal despots in world history.
Oumsang is more than ready for the challenge, and is, in fact, surprised she's not feeling any butterflies.
"I overwhelmingly excited," she said. "I should be nervous, but I'm just happy about it. This has been in my sights since graduating high school, and now I am seeing it come to fruition."
Americans interested in transformative service and lifelong connections should apply to Peace Corps service at www.peacecorps.gov/apply.